


Go Ahead and Take Me If I'm Yours

by Rellanka



Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [71]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Attempted Seduction, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25214284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellanka/pseuds/Rellanka
Summary: One ex-mercenary's attempts to get his man, through the angsty perspective of the man he's trying to get.
Relationships: Cloud Strife/Vincent Valentine
Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [71]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697269
Comments: 6
Kudos: 150





	Go Ahead and Take Me If I'm Yours

Cloud stretched after the battle. 

Though calling it a stretch was being generous, in Vincent’s mind. As was pretending it was anything approaching normal. No, what Cloud did was put onto display a great deal of his bare, shining skin for Vincent to angrily appreciate with hungry eyes. 

Then he had the gall to straighten up and blink innocently at Vincent, as if the past few minutes hadn’t been carefully planned and orchestrated. As if the last several such instances hadn’t all had a similar theme. 

“Well, I better get back to the bar. Tifa’s probably wanting to know how everything went, and she gets annoyed if I take too long to check in. You can come with me if you want. Tifa’s always glad to see you.” Cloud offered as if he hadn’t just knowingly driven Vincent a little insane. 

Hmph. Tifa _had_ been especially glad to see Vincent lately, but not because of Vincent’s company alone. It was all a good show for her, and she never bothered to hide the way that she silently laughed over his suffering at Cloud’s seduction attempts. Vincent was sure that she _would_ be overjoyed to see him; she would probably love the entertainment. 

“Aren’t you going to put your shirt back on, first?” Vincent asked dryly, not at all suggesting it because Tifa’s bar usually had **patrons** at this time of day, that he in no way was thinking didn’t deserve to see Cloud looking… as Cloud looked right now. 

“Nah.” Cloud threw carelessly over his shoulder, “It’s hot, and my shirt is dirty, anyway. I’ll just change at the bar. Was that a yes or a no to you coming back?” 

He got to his bike, and he managed to make even throwing a leg over the seat and settling down look seductive, damn him. Vincent glared at him fiercely as visions of Cloud straddling something else danced through his head. 

Vincent shook his head and turned to walk the other way, not daring to look back to see what pose Cloud had cooked up to try to tempt Vincent into going with him. Or to tempt Vincent into jumping him, but that was practically standard by now. 

“Your loss.” Cloud called after him, and Vincent felt relieved when he heard the bike start off and roar away. (And a little disappointed. But he wasn’t going to acknowledge that part of himself, whoever it was. Probably Chaos. Planet knew that demon had been ordering him to just jump Cloud already for weeks. ~~Planet knew that even his demons wanted Cloud all too much~~.) 

***

“You said it was urgent on the phone?” Vincent asked Tifa on the phone from outside the bar, observing the seemingly peaceful surroundings with a frown. He didn’t see a threat, not yet, but perhaps the threat was in the bar? The sounds coming from inside it were largely cheerful, but that didn’t mean that no threat existed. 

Tifa gripped the door, preventing Vincent from going in and checking things out just yet and just grinned at him. It was that smile, the I’m-going-to-watch-Cloud-make-Vincent-squirm-and-enjoy-it smile that alerted Vincent to the fact that nothing dangerous _was_ going on, and if he was smart he would make his escape right **now**. 

Unfortunately, he realized this when he was close enough that Tifa was able to reach out and grab his arm. Vincent could break the hold, but not easily with as strong as Tifa was. Certainly not without hurting her, a length that Vincent wasn’t willing to go to to get away. Yet.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Tifa said, smiling and not looking very sorry about it at all, “But there’s a wet T-Shirt contest going on the bar tonight, and I managed to talk Cloud into joining in. Except he’s turned away everyone else and insisted that he wouldn’t let anyone judge him but you. They’ve all been wet for… awhile.” 

Vincent was never going to come help Tifa with repairs on the bar _ever again_. 

“And I suppose that you won’t be letting me leave until I… look them over?” Vincent asked through gritted teeth. 

Tifa’s smile went a little sheepish at the true anger in his tone, and she let go of Vincent’s arm with an apologetic pat. “I mean, if you really don’t want to, I guess I can talk Cloud into letting someone else be the judge. But he’s already dismissed the last three, even though they unanimously declared him the winner. It might take a lot of people checking out his wet, almost naked chest before we find someone else he’ll accept.”

So Tifa would let him leave, but only with the burning knowledge of eyes lingering obviously and appreciatively on Cloud’s form. And Tifa knew- she **knew** \- that both Vincent and his demons were far too possessive to be able to stomach that without reaching a dangerous level of rage. 

Really, she still hadn’t given him any choice at all. 

And that’s exaclty what she was counting on. 

It wasn’t doing Vincent any good extending this any longer, so with a dark glance sent to Tifa, Vincent pushed himself into the bar. As if magnetized, Vincent’s eyes fell instantaneously on Cloud.

They’d just wet the contestants again, and Cloud- he was- he was **beautiful** , and bright enough that it almost hurt to look at, and shining from streams of water that dripped from his hair to his shirt, a plain white that was different from his usual one and soaked through so badly that it framed rather than hid any of his skin. His pants were, luckily, unchanged from his usual. Vincent didn’t know what he would have done if Cloud had had the shamelessness to bare all of himself to all and sundry. 

As it was, it wasn’t only Vincent’s demons that were inwardly growling at the people that surrounded Cloud, casually close- too close- to him as his eyes met Vincent’s and a smile that was too triumphant to hide took over his face. 

Vincent walked until he was standing directly in front of Cloud, glad when everyone else finally moved away from the man as they were scared off by Vincent’s presence. 

He didn’t even bother looking at the other currently wet men, before he said, “You. You win.”

Cloud’s smile widened. “I win?” he asked, anticipatorily. 

Vincent smiled back, and it had the edge of Turk ruthlessness that he’d never fully lost, “The T-shirt competition. Mm, it does appear you’ve worked hard for it.” Vincent allowed his eyes to rake over Cloud’s body once more and used his still burning anger to keep focused as he said, “It’s really too bad that your other efforts are so doomed to failure. My deepest condolences.” 

And turning on his heel, he left the bar and that beautiful, frustrating mess behind him. 

It felt good to get a victory for once, even if nearly every part of him was protesting against leaving Cloud alone, in the bar, looking like that, the way he had. Perhaps thinking he wouldn’t win the push and pull going on between them, when some part of Vincent knew he eventually would. (Even as all the other parts of Vincent insisted that he wouldn’t; that Vincent could never allow him to.)

But if there was any fallout from this, especially fallout that he would dearly regret, Vincent would deal with it later. 

For now he would just savor returning back to Cloud some of that frustration that he’d been putting Vincent through for months. 

***

Vincent couldn’t say that he was entirely surprised that this was the fallout. 

No, some part of him had been expecting exactly this sort of payback for a few weeks now.

He couldn’t stop himself from savoring it for a moment, though. To allow himself to appreciate the sight of Cloud splayed out, naked and willing on his bed. He **did** stop himself before he lingered too long. Before the control he had an all too fragile grasp on finished cracking into nothing. 

With an iron will he turned from the sight and began getting himself ready for bed, ignoring Cloud’s existence as if he wasn’t even there. 

Except for the, “Get out, Cloud.” That he tossed to the man from the safety of a turned back. 

“Is that really what you want? Do you really not want me, and I don’t even mean sexually. Do you really not want me at all?” Cloud asked, and his voice sounded more serious than he had during any of his other attempts.

It was enough to get Vincent to turn and look at him once more. Cloud had drawn a corner of the blanket over his naked lap, and the expression on his face was disappointed but set. Vincent knew that expression. Cloud had come to a decision, one that he’d decided to follow, no matter what. Whatever he said he’d do tonight, he would carry through to the letter. Their entire group was familiar with how impossible it was to change Cloud’s mind when he got in this sort of mood. 

“I don’t.” Vincent lied, despite how much it cost him to say it.

Cloud bowed his head briefly and let out a huff of air that could have been a choked sob. But when his eyes met Vincent’s, they were determined rather than teary, and it was with steady hands that Cloud pushed himself from the bed and started putting his clothes back on. 

Vincent watched him silently, his dread growing with every piece of cloth that covered Cloud’s skin. 

When he was done, he gave a passable smile to Vincent, saying in a firm voice, “Then I’m really sorry for bothering you. I know that… you probably think I’m an asshole with how I’ve been pressuring you for something you don’t want. I **am** an asshole for it. I’m sorry… I just… I was stupid enough to think that my feelings were returned. That was my mistake. I won’t bother you, Vincent. Not ever again. I promise.” 

Cloud met his eyes dead on at the last of his speech, and Vincent knew that Cloud was being earnest. Cloud would keep to his word. He would never again make a suggestive comment to Vincent, never again seek him out and look at him with those eyes that were heated and beautiful, never again try blatant seductive techniques that left Vincent hot under the collar and desperately wanting more, never again casually linger in his touches to Vincent in a way that friends **don’t** , never again do anything to pursue a romantic relationship with Vincent. 

Vincent was losing him. 

**Vincent was losing him.**

Each realization of what he was losing was like a knife to his heart, as was every visualization of what his life would be like with those things, without all of the thousand other little intimacies Cloud had allowed him as someone Cloud was interested in romantically. 

The knowledge that if he let Cloud walk through that door that someone else would be all too happy to be receiving those things instead swept through Vincent like a wildfire, and it wasn’t a stabbing; it was world-rupturing, the thought of Cloud doing those things, sharing his life, smiling his smiles with someone else. The thought of Vincent losing any chance of a future with Cloud permanently and completely.

He didn’t care that before he’d once thought of this as the best option. Didn’t care that Cloud choosing someone safer and more worthy of him then Vincent had been Vincent’s goal all along. 

He could no longer bear the thought of losing Cloud to someone else, and it was with a quick hand that he reached out and snatched Cloud’s arm before the other man could finish passing him. 

“I lied.” Was all Vincent could manage at first, the many years of suppression causing the words to come slowly and almost stiltedly. 

He’d wanted Cloud for so much longer than Cloud had ever expressed an interest in him. If he was going to keep Cloud now, he was going to have to find the words. 

“What?” Cloud said softly, looking as if he barely dared to hope.

“I do want you.” Vincent confessed, the words starting to come out a little easier, now, “I want you more than I could ever say. I’ve wanted you since the moment I opened my eyes after decades of sleep, and you glowed in your strength and beauty as you gave me something to live for. I’ve wanted you at your best, when it was difficult to look at you because you shone so brightly, and wanted you even more at your worst, because even then you had more strength and kindness then I’ve ever managed in my entire life. I’ve wanted you when you didn’t know, and wanted you when I pretended not to. I’ve always wanted you, Cloud. I’ve always loved you.” 

“Then why?” Cloud burst out, looking cautiously happy, but also frustrated and hurt, “Why haven’t you given me a chance, once in any of the times that I asked you to?”

“Because I’m not the only one in my body that loves you. Chaos loves you, too. All of my demons do. And they’re not so understanding as me. They’re not human; they don’t care about human relationships and those relationships typical lifespans. All they understand is that if you become ours, you will be so forever. If you become ours, we will never let you go. They’re not idle in their threats, Cloud. If you become ours, and then leave us, they will burn this world to ash to get you back. And if you become ours, they will consume you whole in their hunger for you.” Vincent said, meeting Cloud’s eyes firmly. It was important that Cloud knew exactly what he’d be getting into if he chose Vincent still. He likely wouldn’t get a chance to back out afterward. 

Cloud stared back at Vincent for a moment after his speech, before crossing his arms and setting himself into a warrior’s stance. 

“I know what I’m getting into.” Cloud said fiercely, “I’ve always known, because I’ve always known exactly who you were. I **love** you, Vincent. I love you, and I love your demons, and I want you all. You’re not the only one that’s been wanting this for years. And if I’m yours, you’re mine. All of you. Who says I’m the one that should be worried about the other not letting go?”

Vincent’s demons purred at that, but Cloud wasn’t yet done.

“And now that everyone is finally on the same page, I think that all of you have some time to make up for.” He said, a hint of that old suggestion back in his voice. 

In the game of seduction and keep away they’d been playing, Vincent had just lost. He’d lost utterly, and completely, and he didn’t mind at all. 

“Yes.” Vincent said, allowing his eyes to glow just enough to show that his demons were every bit a part of this as he was as he threw a surprised but all too willing Cloud back onto the bed, looming over him predatorily, ready to help put him back into his unclothed state, “We do.” 

And so Vincent and his demons got to work on making up for that lost time. Very, very thoroughly.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to start the next 100,000 words with this one because this is actually one of the favorite fics I've written. One of those rare times where it was easy to plot, easy to get the words to flow fairly well, easy to edit, and writing it was just fun. It's definitely not perfect, but all of those things make it a good example of why I wrote this series in the first place. 
> 
> Also, thank you so much for all the comments, guys! I haven't had enough time or energy to really reply to them lately because of RL things and everything else I'm trying to get done with this series, but I do see them and appreciate them so much.


End file.
